Unveiling inverse vulcanized polymers as metal-free,visible-light-driven photocatalysts for cross-coupling reactions

Inverse vulcanized polymers(IVPs) that generated from elemental sulfur and smaller amounts of alkenes have found broad promising applications such as cathode materials for Li-S batteries, dynamic and repairable materials, optics applications, and metal sorption. However, their exploration in organic synthesis is still unprecedented. Here we first report the application of inverse vulcanized polymers in catalysis for organic transformations. A biomass-derived inverse vulcanized polymer(IVP-EAE) is found to be capable of catalyzing cross-coupling reactions in a transition-metal-free fashion under visible light.This method allows the direct C–H functionalization of pyrroles and N-arylacrylamides with(hetero)aryl halides, respectively, leading to the formation of two sets of structurally important scaffolds including pyrrole-containing biaryls and 3,3-disubstituted oxindoles with high selectivity. We anticipate this study will not only unveil the new potential of IVPs, but also offer a distinct type of catalysts for organic transformations.

Recent advances in the synthesis of fluoroalkylated compounds using fluoroalkyl anhydrides

Fluoroalkyl-containing organic compounds have exhibited wide applications in the field of pharmaceuticals,agrochemicals and materials science due to their outstanding properties such as biological activity,metabolic stability,lipophilicity,excellent chemical and thermal stability.Therefore,various synthetic strategies have been developed for the construction of fluoroalkyl-containing compounds,using highly active fluorinating reagents and fluorinated building blocks.Recently,the use of easily available and inexpensive trifluoroacetic anhydride(TFAA)and its anhydride analogues has attracted great attention to access numerous fluoroalkyl-containing compounds through cyclization and coupling reactions.In this review,we summarized the recent advances in the synthesis of fluoroalkylated compounds using fluoroalkyl anhydrides as reagents.This review aims to provide a reference for researchers on how to develop new synthetic straregies of fluorine-containing organic compounds and achieve kilograms or even tons preparation of fluorine-containing organic compounds using fluoroalkyl anhydrides.

Synthesis of 2-trifluoromethyl chromenes via double carbonyl-ene reaction

A new protocol for the synthesis of diversely substituted 2-trifluoromethyl chromenes from the cyclization reaction of o-isopropenylphenols with trifluoroacetic anhydride has been developed,which proceeds via sequential trifluoroacetylation and double carbonyl-ene reaction followed by elimination reaction.This methodology exhibits good functional group tolerance,and derivatization of the 2-trifluoromethyl chromene product resulted in other valuable scaffolds.

Modulating the aggregation of amyloid proteins by macrocycles

The aggregation of amyloid proteins has been suggested to be the main cause of multiple human disorders;for example,amyloidβaggregates in Alzheimer’s disease andα-synuclein aggregates in Parkinson’s disease.In the search for therapeutic medicines,many molecules have been discovered and developed to modulate the aggregation of amyloid proteins.This century has witnessed the flourishing growth of supramolecular chemistry,and some biocompatible macrocycles have been proven to inhibit the aggregation of some amyloid proteins via host-guest interactions and could thus be used for the prevention or treatment of related diseases.Here,we review the application of macrocycles in modulating the aggregation of amyloid proteins.

Constructing Versatile Hydrophilic Surfaces via in-situ Aminolysis

Surface hydrophilization is required for numbers of applications such as biosensor,biomedical implants and marine coating.However,the preparation of hydrophilic surface from a solid substrate still suffers from limited thicknesses,complex procedures,restricted substrates and harsh conditions.Herein,a method based on in-situ aminolysis of poly(pentafluorophenyl acrylate)(pPFPA)capable of generating arbitrary hydrophilic surface is proposed,enabling high design freedom and abundant choices of hydrophilic molecules.Simply immersing pPFPA coated substrates into 3-((3-aminopropyl)dimethylammonio)propane-1-sulfonate(ADPS),β-alanine and amine-terminal poly(ethylene glycol)(NH2-PEG)solutions for two hours drastically reduces the water contact angle of the corresponding surfaces,indicating the high efficiency and excellent generality of such method.Systematical studies reveal that these coatings are able to mitigate fog formation,self-clean the oil contaminant and exhibit excellent antifouling performance against algae.Notably,relying on the fast and quantitative feature of the aminolysis,these hydrophilic surfaces possess excellent regeneration capability and well-recover their hydrophilic feature after being physically damaged.This work represents a facile and universal way to fabricate versatile hydrophilic surfaces for multi-functional applications such as self-cleaning,patterning,sensing,antifogging and anti-biofouling.